4 kidnapped People crossed into Mexico to purchase medication

“All 4 People have been positioned in a car and brought from the scene by armed males,” the FBI mentioned. The bureau is providing a $50,000 reward for the victims’ return and the arrest of the abductors.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mentioned Monday the 4 have been going to purchase medication, “there was a confrontation between teams, and so they have been detained,” with out providing particulars.

A girl driving in Matamoros witnessed what seemed to be the capturing and abduction in broad daylight. She requested to not be recognized for worry of reprisal.

The scene illustrates the phobia that has prevailed for years in Matamoros, a metropolis dominated by factions of the Gulf cartel who usually combat amongst themselves. Amid the violence, hundreds of Mexicans have disappeared simply in Tamaulipas state, the place Matamoros is situated.

The girl mentioned she noticed the white minivan get hit by one other car close to an intersection, then gunfire rang out.

One other SUV rolled up and a number of other armed males hopped out.

“Abruptly they (the gunmen) have been in entrance of us,” she mentioned. “I entered a state of shock, no person honked their horn, no person moved. All people should have been pondering the identical factor, ‘if we transfer they may see us, or they could shoot us.’”

She mentioned the gunmen compelled a girl, who was capable of stroll, into the again of a pickup truck. One other particular person was carried to the truck however might nonetheless transfer his head.

“The opposite two they dragged throughout the pavement, we don’t know in the event that they have been alive or lifeless,” she mentioned.

Mexican authorities arrived minutes later.

A video posted to social media Friday reveals males with assault rifles and tan physique armor loading the 4 individuals into the mattress of a white pickup. One is alive and sitting up, however the others appeared both lifeless or wounded. At the least one particular person appeared to carry his head from the pavement earlier than being dragged to the truck.

Shootouts in Matamoros have been so dangerous on Friday that the U.S. Consulate issued an alert in regards to the hazard. Native authorities warned individuals to shelter in place. It was not instantly clear how the abductions could have been linked to that violence.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar mentioned in an announcement Monday the People have been kidnapped at gunpoint and an “harmless” Mexican citizen died within the assault. He mentioned numerous U.S. justice companies have been working with their Mexican counterparts to get well the lacking individuals.

Authorities have supplied no different particulars about who the victims have been or the place they have been from.

President Joe Biden had been knowledgeable of the state of affairs, White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned Monday. She declined to reply different questions, citing privateness issues.

Tamaulipas’ chief prosecutor, Irving Barrios, advised reporters {that a} Mexican lady died in Friday’s shootings. He gave no particulars about her dying and didn’t specify whether or not she was killed in the identical gunfight the place the kidnapping happened.

Tamaulipas state police mentioned on social media there have been “two armed incidents between unidentified civilians” on Friday.

Victims of violence in Matamoros and different giant border cities of Tamaulipas usually go uncounted as a result of the cartels have a historical past taking our bodies of their very own with them. Native media usually keep away from reporting on such episodes out of security issues, creating an info vacuum.

Images from the scene seen by The Related Press present a white minivan with the motive force’s aspect window shot out and all the doorways open, sitting on the aspect of a road after apparently colliding with a pink SUV.

The State Division warns U.S. residents to not journey to Tamaulipas. Nonetheless, being a border metropolis, U.S. residents who stay in Brownsville or elsewhere in Texas incessantly cross to go to household, attend medical appointments or store. It’s additionally a crossing level for individuals touring deeper into Mexico.

Because the headquarters of the highly effective Gulf cartel, Matamoros was as soon as comparatively calm. For years, an evening out within the metropolis was a part of the “two-nation trip” for spring breakers flocking to Texas’ South Padre Island.

However elevated cartel violence over the previous 10 to fifteen years frightened away a lot of that enterprise. Generally U.S. residents are swept up within the combating.

Three U.S. siblings disappeared close to Matamoros in October 2014 whereas visiting their father and have been later discovered shot to dying and burned. Their mother and father mentioned that they had been kidnapped by males wearing police gear figuring out themselves as “Hercules,” a tactical safety unit within the metropolis.